Science Supporters To Rally in New England

Pediatrician John Snyder is organizing a science march in Amherst, Massachusetts, to coincide with the national event.

File Photo
/ Masslive

In an effort to promote science and oppose funding cuts, science supporters in New England are hosting rallies Saturday, April 22, in collaboration with a national science march in Washington DC.

As a national advocate for childhood vaccines, pediatrician John Snyder is no stranger to science skeptics.

Snyder thought it made sense to organize a march in Amherst, Massachusetts, a college town nestled among research institutions.

Snyder said participants are making the case for why rigorous science should always inform public policy – and that can be a hard sell across the political spectrum.

“A lot of the anti-vaccine rhetoric that we hear, and belief and dogma, tends to come from the left side of the aisle," Snyder said. "And if you look at, for example, climate change denialism, that tends to be toward the right end of the spectrum.”

Amherst is among almost 400 science marches planned across the country, including Pittsfield and Great Barrington, Massachusetts; Brattleboro, Vermont; Hartford and Boston.